2025 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences goes to five GLP-1 scientists
Five researchers behind the discovery of the gut hormone GLP-1 and its conversion into drugs shared a $3 million Breakthrough Prize on April 5, 2025 — a look at where today's medicines came from.
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced on April 5, 2025 in Los Angeles that its Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences goes to five scientists for discovering and characterizing glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and turning it into medicines for type 2 diabetes and obesity [1]. The winners are Daniel J. Drucker, Joel Habener, Jens Juul Holst, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen and Svetlana Mojsov, who share one of six $3 million prizes awarded this year [1].
The foundation described the five scientists' contributions as complementary, running "from basic hormone discovery through physiological understanding to pharmaceutical development" [1]. The cited breakthroughs include finding the gene that encodes GLP-1; synthesizing, isolating and characterizing the hormone's biologically active forms; showing it is made in the gut and drives insulin production; mapping its broader roles in appetite and energy balance; creating a longer-lasting version that works for days rather than hours; and translating all of that into a drug class the foundation says is "transforming the treatment of metabolic diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide" [1].
How the science unfolded
The research reaches back decades. In the 1980s, Habener's team at Massachusetts General Hospital cloned the gene encoding glucagon and found it also encoded a related hormone later named GLP-1 [2]. Mojsov, then a newly independent researcher at MGH and now a chemist at The Rockefeller University, recognized the active region of the peptide based on her deep knowledge of glucagon's sequence. "By the time I finished my studies with glucagon, I really knew its sequence by heart, backwards and forwards," she said [2].
Mojsov made antibodies against the active form of GLP-1 and, with Habener, detected the peptide in rat intestines [2]. Drucker, then a postdoctoral fellow in Habener's lab and now an endocrinologist at the University of Toronto, used Mojsov's synthesized GLP-1 to show the active form triggered insulin release from rat pancreas [2]. At the same time in Denmark, Holst and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen isolated GLP-1 from pigs and found it increased insulin secretion [2]. Human studies followed: both groups showed that infusing the active hormone stimulated insulin secretion and lowered blood glucose [2]. By 1996, research showed that injecting GLP-1 into rats reduced their appetite, which pointed toward obesity as a target [2].
The drug problem was that natural GLP-1 breaks down in minutes [2]. Knudsen, a pharmaceutical scientist at Novo Nordisk, worked on attaching fatty acids to the peptide to make it last longer. That approach produced liraglutide, a once-daily GLP-1 analog, and further chemical changes produced semaglutide, which can be given once weekly [2]. Earlier attempts by other companies had run into problems including injection-site rash and, in some trial participants, anaphylactic shock [2]. The Scientist reports that semaglutide has been sold as Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy since US Food and Drug Administration approval, which the article dates to 2021 [2].
Knudsen, who said she never expected academic prizes as an industry scientist, stressed the collective nature of the work: "When you see a success story like GLP-1, there are multiple inventors" [2].
Why it matters for patients
A science prize does not change anyone's prescription, coverage or copay. What it does offer is context. The medicines many Americans now take weekly began as basic laboratory work on a gut hormone in the 1980s, with no obesity drug in sight — and the step that made them practical was solving a pharmacology problem, keeping the hormone in the body for days instead of minutes [1][2].
That history also helps explain why these drugs are being studied so widely. The Scientist notes early data suggesting GLP-1-based drugs may have uses in cardiovascular disease, addictive disorders and neurodegenerative disorders [2]. Those are described as early data, not settled findings, and the sources do not report specific trial results or approvals in those areas.
Mojsov argued the situation favors closer work between companies and universities, with drug developers watching effects in trials while basic scientists dig into mechanisms. "We can lead each other," she said. "There are a lot of very interesting questions ahead of us" [2].
What happens next
The 2025 laureates were announced and honored at the annual Breakthrough Prize ceremony in Los Angeles on April 5, 2025 [1]. This year's total prize money came to $18.75 million, bringing the 14-year total above $326 million [1]. The sources do not describe any follow-on research funding or specific next steps tied to the GLP-1 award.
Images from the sources
Sources
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